Cartoon of a small child standing on a stack of books to look at fireworks. the fireworks are embedded in the stars of the American flag.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Mea Anderson | [email protected]

(Springfield) — “When the Illinois Early Literacy Coalition saw results from a study last year that found Illinois to be among three states that had recovered from pandemic learning loss in reading, we wanted to know more about what was happening in classrooms,” said Barb Cohen, Policy Associate with the Legal Council for Health Justice and co-chair of the Illinois Early Literacy Coalition’s Policy Committee. Illinois adopted its first-ever state literacy plan last year, but without any mandates on school districts, the question remained about what schools were actually doing to drive improvement.

With that goal in mind, the committee began digging into that recovery data and reaching out to several districts whose English Language Arts scores had bounced back according to that analysis. New state report card data also came out amid these interviews, so committee members reached out to several other districts that saw steep gains in literacy scores as well.

Six districts agreed to share their literacy stories: Cicero SD 99, CUSD 200 (Wheaton), Morton Grove SD 70, Peoria SD 150, Rockford SD 205, and Sesser-Valier CUSD 196. These span from southern Illinois to the northern suburbs, from those with significant bilingual population to those with virtually none. Some are deeply underfunded, while others are better off. The smallest has just over 500 students and the largest just under 30,000.

“All these districts had a valuable tale to tell and, despite their differences, many of the changes fell into similar categories,” said Dr. Courtney Ratliff, a school psychologist with the organization Science of Reading Illinois, who also serves as committee co-chair. “The paper groups them into buckets we call ‘The 5 C’s: Collaboration, Coaching, Coherence, Continuous Improvement, and Calendar.’”

“This project was intended to bridge the gap between reading research and practice so we can learn from educators who decided to do something different for the students they serve. Implementation can be messy, and system change is hard, but we must do that work so we can get better literacy results for our children,” added Dr. Tinaya York, a former principal, instructional coach, owner of Literacy for Life, and member of the committee.

“Many other states have prescribed specific mandates around foundational literacy screening and instruction, but Illinois has focused its efforts on developing comprehensive guidance and encouraging change aligned to reading research and evidence,” said Dr. Shannon Hammond, an Assistant Professor of Special Education and member of the committee. “We hope other school leaders and policymakers will benefit from learning about the implementation work schools in Illinois are undertaking to improve literacy.” 

###

The Illinois Early Literacy Coalition includes individual and organizational supporters from across Illinois who believe the literacy crisis is urgent and solvable. We strive to improve public policy and funding to  better align teacher and administrator preparation, professional development, curricula, and other supports  with evidence-based instructional practices.

elementary schoolers siting on a rug in a classroom

Illinois has made great strides toward improving our literacy rates and ensuring all students have access to evidence-based literacy instruction, but our work is not done! In order for students to receive quality instruction, their teachers must have access to quality, research-aligned professional development. Help us make that a reality by submitting a witness slip in favor of HB 1368 (Faver Dias/Lightford), a bill that would require any professional development related to English Language Arts to be aligned with the Comprehensive Literacy Plan for grades PreK-12.

Witness slips are a great way to show support for a bill as it goes before a legislative committee, and they only take 3 – 5 minutes to complete! Here’s how to do it:

  1. Start here, at the General Assembly’s committee dashboard page for HB 1368.
  2. Fill in your contact information. (Under “Firm or Business,” feel free to write “IL Early Literacy Coalition,” “self,” “parent,”  or any other affiliation you are representing.)
  3. Under “Representation,” again write something like “parent” or “IL Early Literacy Coalition.”
  4. Check the box “Proponent.”
  5. Check the box “Record of Appearance Only.”
  6. Check the box to agree to terms of service.
  7. And finally, click the box “Create (slip).” (And do the CAPTCHA if they give you one.)

Thank you for helping bring Illinois one step closer to having evidence-based literacy instruction in every classroom! 

About the Bill

Cartoon of a small child standing on a stack of books to look at fireworks. the fireworks are embedded in the stars of the American flag.
Illinois Early Literacy Coalition

The Illinois State Board of Education has released its second draft of the comprehensive statewide literacy plan!  (Read it here) The Illinois Early Literacy Coalition conferred with lots of members and experts and developed this memo with feedback on the plan. Illinois is moving off the sidelines and this plan is the first step. It’s not perfect and it won’t solve the problem, but it is a strong foundation on which to build. We are grateful that ISBE has devoted so much staff capacity and passion into this work.

Take Action

Let’s do better by our teachers – and in turn, all children.  Please sign this petition and share it widely. 

To the Illinois State Board of Education:

We are parents, educators, civil rights advocates, and community members who share the belief that every child in Illinois deserves equitable access to high-quality literacy instruction, and every teacher deserves access to high-quality training and curricular materials to support that instruction. A recent national report that found most of the reviewed Illinois educator preparation programs neglect critical elements of reading instruction and persist in including instruction in debunked practices has left us outraged, disheartened, and motivated to demand change.

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has failed in its responsibility to rigorously monitor and assess the course content offered by Educator Prep Programs, thus depriving countless educators of the quality education they deserve. We, those who count on the devoted and professional educators who teach our children, demand accountability and immediate action to rectify this situation.

Those who choose to dedicate themselves to teaching invest significant time and money to attend an ISBE-approved program. They deserve to know that ISBE’s stamp of approval means that program is aligned to ISBE’s literacy standards, which are widely recognized as high-quality. But this report shows a deep disconnect between ISBE’s standards and the course content in many accredited Illinois programs.

It is a new day at ISBE, with a new State Superintendent, several new board members, and a new focus on literacy outcomes. We call on you to leverage your authority in program approval to ensure educator preparation programs offer high-quality, comprehensive literacy content aligned to ISBE’s standards, and cease teaching instructional methods that have been scientifically debunked.

Sincerely,

We’re this close to comprehensive literacy legislation passing the Illinois House. This is the time of year when the Illinois legislature finishes up bills and increasingly turns its attention to the budget. So this blog is doing double duty…we need a pro-literacy bill AND a pro-literacy budget!

The facts are stark: about 40% of Illinois students can’t read at even a ‘basic’ level. Most states have acted recently to ensure literacy instruction is evidence-based. It’s time to add Illinois to the list. Urge your representative to support SB2243, soon to be voted on the House floor AND increase early childhood education funding in the budget!

Literacy is complex. It starts with spoken language and exposure to rich vocabulary, experiences to build background knowledge, reading books out loud and learning about concepts of print. (Early childhood programs are SO important for this!) It also requires strong foundational skills with explicit instruction so students can connect the letters on the page to the sounds of speech to the meaning of the words.

Illinois needs a literacy plan so that all students, regardless of where they live or their home language, have access to evidence-based literacy instruction. Working together, we can set more Illinois students on the path of lifelong reading.

We’re nearly there, friends. With your help, we’ll get this done.

Illinois State Capitol

The legislative spring break is drawing to a close, so members of the General Assembly return to Springfield next week for the 5-week sprint to the end of session. Next week also brings another chance to fight for improving reading outcomes in Illinois.

The House is holding a committee hearing on Wednesday, April 19 for SB2243, a bill to create a statewide literacy plan at the State Board of Education. That means we need to rev up the advocacy machine and show the committee the deep support behind this bill.

Sending a witness slip to the committee is the surest way to show your support for this bill. Last time we had over 300 witness slips – let’s run up the score and get even more!

Follow these straightforward steps to submit your witness slip:

  • Click this link.
  • Fill in your information.
    • For “Representation,” you can enter Illinois Early Literacy Coalition, or something like “parent” or “self”
    • For “Position,” check “Proponent”
    • For “Testimony,” check “Record of Appearance Only”
  • Agree to the “Terms of Service.”
  • Click “Create Slip”

Thank you for taking a stand for Illinois readers. Be sure to share this email with your friends and family and ask them to submit a witness slip ahead of the April 19 hearing.

Illinois state capitol

Last week was a whirlwind at the Capitol and we’ve got progress to show for it! The pace was fast and furious all week, with a Friday deadline spurring legislators to debate bills well into the night.

The good news? Three bills in the ‘Literacy and Justice for All’ bill package passed the House or the Senate on Friday!

We couldn’t have done this without you! Advocates continue to send a strong signal to Springfield that these initiatives have deep support across the state. This month, we’ve sent over 1,500 emails to legislators in support of literacy and youth justice. (Did you send yours yet? Click these links and check it off your to-do list!)

A quick update on where things stand with these (and a few other momentous bills we’re supporting!):

  • Early Literacy: HB2872 and SB2243, bills instructing the State Board of Education to create a statewide literacy plan, and HB3147, the comprehensive Literacy and Justice for All bill to help fix the literacy crisis, passed their first major hurdle! (That is, the House bills passed the House and the Senate bill passed the Senate. Now they will switch places and work their way through the other chamber.)
  • Youth Justice: SB1463 and HB3120 passed committee and we anticipate a floor vote in the Senate this week. The bills would eliminate juvenile court fees and fines, a step toward economic justice for our state.
  • Full-Day Kindergarten: HB 2396 requires school districts to offer full-day kindergarten by 2027. It passed the House and moves to the Senate.
  • Trauma-Responsive Schools: HB 342 responds to the Whole Child Task Force, created by the Legislative Black Caucus’s historic “education pillar” two years ago. Under the bill, which passed the House, the state would develop a Children’s Adversity Index, make licensure recommendations to ensure teachers are prepared to support children with trauma, and add ratios of social workers to the school report card.
  • Dual-Credit Teacher Shortage: HB 1213 passed the House, creating a scholarship program for teachers to pursue the coursework needed to teach Dual Credit.

We will keep you posted as things continue to move in Springfield. Get ready for more advocacy opportunities to keep up the growing momentum on our legislative priorities!

Thank you for your partnership and support.